Dry Needling of Tender Points Results in Reduced FM Pain and Fatigue

Editor's Comment: Most people with fibromyalgia are familiar with trigger point or tender point injections, where saline, a local anesthetic, or corticosteroids are injected into a myofascial trigger point or an FM tender point in an effort to provide short-term pain relief. While dry needling involves the use of a needle on the same trigger or tender points, no substance is injected. Instead, a fine solid filament needle, like those used for acupuncture, is used to stimulate the trigger or tender points. Dry needling can be performed by an acupuncturist or a medical or chiropractic physician trained in dry needling techniques.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term efficacy of dry needling therapy in patients severely affected by fibromyalgia.

One hundred and twenty fibromyalgia patients were randomly divided into two groups. The control group, 56 women and 4 men, and the dry needling group, 54 women and 6 men, who apart from continuing their medical treatment, also underwent weekly 1-h session of dry needling for 6 weeks.

At the beginning of the program, there were significant differences in the age (mean 56.26 years in the dry needling group versus 50.82 years in controls, p = 0.01) and McGill Pain Questionnaire [MPQ] (mean 39.07 in dry needling group versus 42.44 in controls, p = 0.03).

At the end of treatment, the experimental group showed significant differences in most tests, including

Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of pain (p = 0.002),

VAS of fatigue (p = 0.02),

pain of Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-36 (SF-36) (p = 0.0007),

myalgic score (p = 0.0005),

pressure pain threshold (p = 0.002), and

global subjective improvement (p = 0.00001).

Six weeks after the end of the treatment, the dry needling group still showed significant differences in most tests, including